Fear of the Drowned
by HarleyHart
Summary: He watches her. He sees her. Through the monitor he views her, through the monitor he stalks her. His newest victim to be toyed with, to be tortured and haunted. To be drowned.
1. Chapter 1

He knew a lot about her.

Thalia Lecher, age eighteen. Five foot two, lives with her parents (if you could call seeing her parents twice, maybe three times a week living with them), only child, perpetually single. An avid gamer with a fondness of Razer products, a lover of animal crackers, a vegetarian, and a purveyor of neko themed hentai.

He has watched her through the monitor for about two months now. And during these two months he has seen her in many states, physically and emotionally.

She was an absolute wreck when her pet dwarf bunny died; mascara and eyeliner had flooded down her cheeks enough so that she reminded him of his housemate. Her emerald eyes had looked so very stunning all red and shining with tears. She didn't leave her bed for two days, little whimpers and sniffles the only noises coming from her. Her lips had trembled in such a delicious way.

She was so amusing when drunk, bottles of cheap pink moscato snuck up to her room and stashed underneath a loose floorboard. She would stay up all night reading fanfiction and browsing the web, giggling and shrieking and blushing with no makeup on and pajamas in the form of a hoody three sizes too big. She always fell asleep curled into a little ball on a nest of blankets on the floor, her small panty covered rump sticking out and a rabbit stuffed animal hugged tight to her chest. She looked so innocent and sweet until she would wake up and ritually cursed herself, one hand clutching her head and the other shielding her eyes from the sunlight.

She was mesmerizing when taken over by lust, her pale hands running up her slender thighs, little gasps and moans growing louder and higher pitched as she worked herself over. She trembled and she whimpered and she shook until she was a gasping mess, body flushed and eyes fluttering close in a swoon.

She was destructive when angered, throwing her possesions and crying and screaming until she collapsed on the floor and curled up into a sobbing ball, her throat hoarse and slender body shaking. She would lay there in her broken possesions; shards of glass, books with broken spines, stuffed animals, cans spilled, feathers torn from her pillows and blankets. She would lay for hours until torn from her state by a call from her parents or a ping from her computer.

Yes, he had seen her many ways. Half dressed, fully so, donned in elegant attire, sloppy in worn out outfits. He had seen her with makeup and without, turned into a swamp monster with face masks, eerie with only her makeup half done up.

He had seen her gorge herself on cookies and then starve herself for days. He had seen her singing and dancing, hips moving like a goddess in intoxicating figure eights. He had seen her languid in bed, reading book after book after book until she fell asleep in awkward positions that caused her bones to ache. He had seen her sick and frail, too weak to get out of bed but forcing herslf to do it anyway, a work uniform donned and medicine taken. He had seen her sit curled up in her computer chair for hours upon hours, tapping away at the keyboard, lips twitching into a smile and little peals of laughter let out. He had seen her sit in a daze, staring out of her window and not moving, her eyes glazed over in a trance. He had seen her sit with her hands in her lap, back straight, head held high, and eyes trained on the wall with a blank expression as she was scolded and lectured by her parents- something that occured every day that they were home.

He saw her many ways and he nearly always saw her alone.

But his most favorite way of viewing her was whenever she would sit on her bedroom floor, perched on an old pillow with back leaned against the frame of her bed and legs lightly crossed, half dressed in a shirt and panties, light pink dyed hair up in a bun or in braids, and a look of pure concentration on her face as her small hands fumbled with a controller.

When he saw her in pouting annoyance and sadness, mourning her finally worn out Majora's Mask cartridge, he decided that it was time to give her a gift.


	2. Chapter 2

Thalia yawned and stretched, her hand falling to her scalp to scratch and ruffle the messy locks. It was good to be home.

She sighed quietly as she glanced at her calender. Only one more week of solitude. Instead of the usual work that kept her parents away from home, this time they had gone on a two week vacation to Bali. She was offered the chance to join them, but she couldn't get off from work nor could she afford the lost hours if she wanted to go to Burning Man next year. And she was more than happy to have the house all to herself for a solid amount of time. With no one else home she was free to strip off her hated work uniform, tug on an oversized hoody, and wander through the house bottomless and comfortable. The fridge was hers to graze from and her music could be cranked as loud as she pleased. Which was exactly what was happening; Blackmill blasting and a banana eaten before whisking off to tidy up the house a little.

She had the odd feeling of being watched as she tossed her dirty clothes in a hamper, but she firmly pushed it away. She had been feeling like that a lot lately...but only at home. She tried to dismiss it and blame it on the nightmare fuel she had indulged in of late, but a nagging hunch told her it might be something else. Thalia shook her head. No, no. It was the horror movies and reading scary story after scary story. Not quite smart to do so while at home alone, but they were really only stories and it was kind of fun to scare herself silly.

In the wash her dirty clothes went, the empty hamper filled with the fresh and clean load from the dryer. She would get around to hanging the clothes up later, maybe, possibly. Most likely not. The thought of chores was laughable when she had the house all to herself. And with no one to come over there was no reason to hide her shame.

The doorbell chimed and she huffed, a pair of shorts fished out of her clean clothes and pulled on before answering the front door. Her brow raised at the sight of a delivery man on her doorstep, smiling at her and holding a package.

"May I help you?" she asked him, her eyes subtly taking in the elderly man's appearance. He looked so frail and thin, his brown eyes faded and sunken and skin sallow. What was he doing working? He should be sitting on a porch sipping sweet tea and telling stories to his grandchildren.

"A package for the missy," he wheezed out with a chuckle, his voice holding an Asian lit. Scratch the sweet tea then, maybe green tea or jasmine.

"But...I didn't order anything?" Her brows furrowed at her name scrawled on the small package. Yes, that was her name and that was her address. No return one she noted. "Oh, very well. Do I just sign?"

The man nodded and let her sign for the package, a grin on his face that was, quite frankly, beginning to unsettle her. He thanked her, glancing over to the side of her house. "Ah, you have a pond. How pretty. You must be careful, though, missy. Beware of the drowned."

Thalia stepped back from the man blinking uneasily and nodded. "I...um, yes. Um, thank you. Have a lovely day, sir."

She closed the door as politely as she could, immediately locking it behind her. She chided herself for being creeped out by the old man and looked down at the package in her hands curiously. How incredibly _odd_ of her to be sent something. She tossed it into her clothes hamper and made her way to her room, basket against her hip as she pondered over her little surprise. With the basket set on the floor and her hoody and shorts tugged off in exchange for a more favored henley, she sat on her bed, bare legs crossed over each other.

Her cellphone went off and she sighed in annoyance. Another sigh as she glanced at the caller id and saw it was her mother. She answered with a dull "hello," grabbing the package and shifting the phone between her ear and her shoulder so she could rip it open.

She listened as her mother started complaining about her father drinking, the skinny Australian girls strutting about in their micro bikinis, the poor selection of restaurants, how humid it was, etc, etc. Thalia rolled her eyes. Her mother always found something to complain about- even in Bali, the unhappy twit. A small 'mmhmm' and 'yeah, mom' was given in the appropriate places until her mother rant out of steam and said her goodbyes, reminding her to clean the pond and keep up with the dishes while they were gone.

Thalia rolled her eyes as she tossed her phone over to the side, the package in her lap still unopened. She toyed with it for a bit, wondering who sent her it. She had a wishlist that she updated regularly. She wasn't a very social person in real life, but her and her online circle were really tight- tighter than her and her own family- and they liked to surprise each other whenever one or the other was going through a rough patch. She had whined a bit recently to one of her oldest guild mates about her frustration with her parents and her pent up annoyance at having to be so tight fisted with her cash to save up to split for Burning Man in the coming year.

The plan was to go and meet up with some of her closest friends there and have the time of her life. After that? She was out and not coming back home. She had saved up a lot of money over the last few years of busting her ass. She would save up more in the upcoming year until it was time to leave. Then it was Burning Man and trip out to Colorado. Some of the guildies shared a cozy little cabin near Breckenridge and they were more than delighted to have their guild master come and stay.

She smiled happily at the thought of it all and then consequently sighed thinking about how long it would be until she could take off. Patience was a virtue she had to work very hard at. A groan escaped and she laid back on her bed, the package falling back onto her stomach with a light noise. Thalia lifted it up into her line of vision and shook it lightly, curious. She sat back up and, with a quick and clean motion, ripped open the package. Turning it upside down, she cocked her head quizzically and stared down at the object.

It was scratched up a bit and looked old, a bit beaten even. It was cool in her hand as she picked it up and she turned it over, her fingers running over the so very familiar shape. There wasn't the usual sticker on it stating the title of what wonder it held. Instead, though, on the cartridge were written in faded black Sharpie and in spidery scrawl two words that made her heart skip a beat.

"**Majora's Mask**"


	3. Chapter 3

He smirked at the confused expression on her face. She picked up the cartridge and cocked her head.

"The hell?"

She was smiling, though, despite her confusion and placed the game onto her bed. A quick jump up and she stretched before striding over to her computer, showing a flash of her taut stomach. He thought he saw something on the skin, but it was covered up quickly as she sat down. Up close he could see that her makeup was a bit smudged and she yawned. But she looked excited as she pulled up Skype and started a group call, tapping at her keyboard with a smile.

"Kitten, darling, so nice to hear from you."

Nikolai. Twenty three years old, single, and a love/sexual interest. He lived in Breckenridge with a few of her guild mates. They owned a surprisingly successful computer company and had a rather nice cabin. He was very dominant, very into kink, and very into the idea of having Thalia as his little pet.

"What's up? We gonna talk about the raid on Thursday? I've got my pally leveled up now."

Alexis. Twenty years old, in a dedicated but open relationship, and one of Thalia's closest friends. She lived in Alabama and worked for a travel agency. She and her boyfriend Ace had pet goats and a hidden little pot farm in the woods.

"Let's not even talk about raids right now, please. I'm still pissed about last week. I can't believe Ethan got that chest piece I wanted. Again."

Dan. Twenty four, perpetually single, perpetually angry, and deeply into Alexis. It was a subject picked over frequently with Thalia and he knew just how much she was tired of hearing him whine and complain. She often snuck wine while the two talked, dulling herself down just enough to not snap at him during the talks that dragged on for hours. Oh, but afterwards, the way she would rant to herself was just so amusing. He wondered what would happen if she just stopped tiptoeing around his feelings so gently and got right down to the point; the guy was pining after something that could never be and he needed to move on to something else.

He had done research on all of her friends, studied their lives just as intently as he studied hers. It was like his own private soap opera to watch.

Thalia smiled and shook her head. "No, no guild talk. I just wanted to hop on quickly. I received a little surprise today. Any of you guys want to own up to sending me a copy of Majora's Mask?"

"Twas not me m'lady," Alexis chirped. "Bet it was a _certain_ Nikky boy."

"Don't call me that. And I can't own up to this one. Though, I wish I had thought of it." Ben switched over to Nikolai quickly, access to his screens in an instant. The man was scowling, covering his mic and cursing quietly. It would have given him bonus points with the girl and he was mentally kicking himself for not thinking of such a gesture. Ben smirked and switched back to Thalia. "What about you Dan?"

"Shit I've been broke for three weeks."

Thalia frowned a little and cocked her head. "Hmmmm. Where on Earth did it come from then?"

"Didn't you post on tumblr about your copy breaking? It could have been that, um, what's his face- the one with the silly url that got you Animal Crossing?"

Thalia tapped her fingers against the desk and nodded absently. "Maybe it was him? I'll have to ask."

"Tell us when you figure it out, kay? I've got to run- Ace wants to go to the store real quick."

"Will do, have fun!"

And with that, Thalia was the only girl left. He could see her small sigh and the minute movements of her shoulders slumping.

"I'm out too. I only wanted to see if it was any of you guys."

"Are you sure?" Nikolai asked, almost too quickly.

She bit her lip and her fingers tapped out a quick message. "Yeah, I'm out."

"Kay, bye Thalia! Enjoy your game!"

The call ended and another one sprung up almost instantly. Thalia smiled and ran her fingers through her hair. "Hey there."

"Hey Kitten. You look lovely."

Her cheeks flushed a bit and she giggled. "No, I don't. But thank you."

"Long day?"

"Mmhmm. They had me working the paint line today."

Nikolai sighed. "I wish you didn't work there."

"It's better than being a babysitter or working fast food." Thalia rolled her eyes. "And this will give me enough money for Burning Man and whatever happens after."

"You know we'll take care of you."

"I know." She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on them.

"I wish you would let me bring you up here early.

Thalia shook her head. "No, this is something that I have to do."

The man sighed again. "Stubborn. Always so, so stubborn. Fine. I won't bring it up again."

"Thank you." A clock chimed somewhere in the house and she yawned. "I should probably log off. I have tomorrow off, though, if you want to do anything."

"I have some projects tomorrow but I'll hit you up."

"Kay. Bye."

She ended the call and sat there quietly for a few moments, eyes closed. A sigh escaped from her and she abruptly stood, stretching and then exiting the room out of his sight.

Soon. Soon he would appear before her. Soon she would know that the creepy crawling feeling she had confessed to her friends about was not some silly little paranoia, but real. Soon she would be broken as her childhood became shattered.

Soon.


End file.
